Absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins, pantiliners, and incontinence pads are designed to absorb and retain liquid and other discharges from the human body and to prevent body and clothing soiling. Sanitary napkins are a type of absorbent article worn by women that is normally positioned between the wearer's legs, adjacent to the perineal area of the body.
Typically, most of the disposable absorbent articles of the types mentioned above are made of materials that will not stretch. That is, the materials (and the article itself) will not stretch under the forces that the absorbent article is normally subjected to when worn.
The inability of the absorbent articles to stretch causes such articles to have a number of serious drawbacks. One of the most serious is that they are not as comfortable for the wearer as they could be. The wearer should ideally be able to notice a difference between an absorbent article that stretches to conform to the wearer's body and with the wearer's movements and an absorbent article that fails to stretch. Conventional sanitary napkins will also fail to stretch and move with the wearer's undergarments, which may cause the sanitary napkins to shift therein. Providing the sanitary napkin with stretch properties will permit the napkin to better conform to the wearer's undergarment and stay in place.
Several patent publications disclose absorbent articles having various components that are capable of stretching. Such efforts are described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,701,567 issued to Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 3,570,493 issued to Olsson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,382 issued to Easley, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,717,150, issued to Schwartz, U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,816 issued to Sabee, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,041,949 issued to Kozak, U.S. Pat. No. 4,166,464 issued to Korpman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,357 issued to Hall, U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,991 issued to Pieniak, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,578,070 issued to Holtman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,570 issued to Jackson, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,760 issued to Morman, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,066 issued to Korpman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,134 issued to Fahrenkrug, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,891,258 issued to Fahrenkrug, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,122 issued to Morman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,992,324 issued to Dube, U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,480 issued to Gossens, et al., and European Patent Application 0 450 541 A2 published in the name of Morris, et al.
Some of the publications listed above disclose providing absorbent articles with one or more stretchable components. More recently, various embodiments of absorbent articles, such as sanitary napkins, comprised entirely of components capable of stretching to accommodate the movements of the wearer and the wearer's undergarments have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,790 entitled "Stretchable Absorbent Articles", issued to Osborn, et al. on Mar. 18, 1997. Improved materials for use in absorbent articles have also been developed.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,801 entitled "Web Materials Exhibiting Elastic-Like Behavior", issued to Chappell, et al. on May 21, 1996, discloses web materials which exhibit an elastic-like behavior and absorbent articles embodying such materials. U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,878 entitled "Method and Apparatus for Making Stretchable Absorbent Articles", issued to Dragoo, et al. on Oct. 1, 1996, discloses a stretchable absorbent material. PCT Publication No. WO 95/20931, entitled "Absorbent Articles" published in the name of Osborn, et al. on Aug. 10, 1995 is directed to extensible absorbent articles that are provided with improved mechanisms for maintaining the articles in contact with the wearer's body. The search for improved variations of extensible absorbent articles, and absorbent cores for such absorbent articles, however, has continued.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide an improved absorbent article, such as a sanitary napkin, that is capable of extending, or more preferably, one that is elastically extensible.
It is another object of this invention to provide an absorbent article, such as a sanitary napkin, that is capable of elastic extensibility in multiple directions.
It is another object of the present invention to provide extensible absorbent articles that are provided with improved mechanisms for preventing some of the problems that affect such generally highly flexible absorbent articles, such as the undesirable tendency for the end regions of the absorbent articles to fold over on the remainder of the absorbent article.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an extensible absorbent article with diagonal extensibility to accommodate the forces walking, and similar motions exert on the absorbent article when it is attached to the wearer's undergarments.
It is another object of the present invention to provide improved absorbent cores for extensible absorbent articles.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article with side flaps or wings that have portions that are extensible for relieving stresses on the sanitary napkin when the flaps are wrapped around the side edges of a wearer's undergarments.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an extensible absorbent article with an improved type of stretchable crimp seal that joins the extensible components of the absorbent article together yet still allows them to extend.
These and other objects of the present invention will be more readily apparent when considered in reference to the following description and when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.